Wednesday, Oct. 12 – Delmarva Birding Weekends

*Red-shouldered Hawk, photo courtesy of Frode Jacobsen. Biking and birding at Cape Henlopen State Park.*

All reservations will be confirmed via email. No cancellations after October 1, 2022. Trips are subject to weather cancellations.

FIELD TRIP

Birding & Boating the Harriet Tubman Byway (DRIVING/BOAT CRUISE)
Time: 11:00 am – 3:00 p.m.
Cost: $90/person
Meeting location: please park in the gravel lot across the street from the Crouse Oil Co., 10264 River Landing Rd, Denton, MD 21629. The GPS Coordinates for the parking lot are: 38.8894, -75.83849.

This tour is sold out.

Discover the birds and wildlife that Harriet Tubman would have encountered during her journeys to freedom on the Underground Railroad on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Join Harriet Tubman Tours and Delmarva Birding Weekends as we go birding along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway in Caroline County, MD. During the guided, self-driven tour, we’ll learn about the many daring escapes led by the famed freedom seeker and human rights activist known as “The Moses of Her People,” Harriet Tubman. In Caroline County, Harriet Tubman found shelter and assistance as she traveled along the Underground Railroad to Delaware.

*River Run Cruises on the Choptank River*

The driving route courses through the farms, forests and significant Underground Railroad sites of Caroline County. We’ll also tour the Choptank River with River Run Cruises in Denton, MD. From there, we will explore the upper reaches of the Choptank during a two-hour cruise aboard a pontoon boat. Downriver, landings and points along the Choptank served as sites for perilous escapes by boat. The shallow waters of the Upper Choptank provided crossings for freedom seekers heading north towards Sandtown, DE.

Harriet Tubman was born around 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland. She was brought into the world as Araminta “Minty” Ross, the middle of nine children born to Harriet “Rit” Green and Ben Ross, who were both enslaved. Her childhood was spent toiling on the plantation of Edward Brodess, who often hired his enslaved people out to neighboring farmers.

*The James Webb Cabin in Preston, MD, a restored African American home c. 1852*

In 1849, Harriet Tubman escaped Maryland’s Eastern Shore to Philadelphia, but she returned at least 13 times to rescue around 70 people, including her parents, family members, and friends. In the face of incredible danger, she guided them safely to freedom as a conductor of the Underground Railroad — a secret network of people, places and routes that provided shelter and assistance to escaping slaves. By 1860, Harriet Tubman had earned the nickname “Moses” for liberating so many enslaved people at great risk to her own life.

During her years as a conductor of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman would have been intimately familiar with the birds and wildlife of Dorchester County. She used the call of a Barred Owl to alert freedom seekers that it was safe to come out of hiding and continue northward.